Nottingham City Transport celebrated National Clean Air Day with their new Biogas buses

Nottingham City Transport release 53 biogas buses into service

Nottingham City Transport have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of their 53 ADL Enviro400 City-bodied Scania double decker buses which were showcased on 19th May to the public in the Old Market Square in Nottingham.

The 53 buses which have been built are all going to be powered by biogas. Biogas is one of the leading solutions for improving air quality, with these buses set to reduce emissions output by 83% over their diesel alternatives.

The biogas being used by these double-decker buses will be created by gas captured from the Nottingham sewage systems and other waste sites, which produces the methane gas needed to transform it into fuel.

Anthony Carver-Smith, Nottingham City Transport Marketing Manager, said: “To see our bio-gas buses finally in operation is incredibly satisfying, and to already have received such brilliant feedback from our passengers really is the icing on the cake.”

“Having bio-gas powered buses on the road will help significantly towards improving our city’s air quality and will play a key role in helping Nottingham become the greenest city in the country.”

Nottingham-based company Roadgas supplied the fuel infrastructure which includes a refuelling station at NCT’s Parliament Street Garage. Roadgas produces bio-gas through anaerobic digestion of food waste, farm waste and sewage waste which are all part of the process of breaking down solid waste and converting it into gas. The methane emitted from this process is turned into fuel and injected into the National Gas Grid via a pipe. A second pipe will transport the gas to the new Parliament Street garage, from the grid, and it will re-fuel the buses each night.

“We are hugely proud of our new bio-gas buses,” said Nottingham City Transport Engineering Director, Gary Mason. “This is the largest order for gas double-decks in the world and is the culmination of our extensive research into alternative fuels.”